Tattnall and Evans County area Confederates served in units from Tattnall, Bulloch, Bryan, and Liberty Counties. They were found in eight (8) infantry companies and seven (7) cavalry companies. No claim is made that the lists are complete.
With the exception of the "Toombs Guards" from Bulloch County which was in the 9th Regiment, the infantry companies were found in the 47th and 61st Regiments. Four (4) cavalry companies were found in the 5th Regiment and three (3) were in the 7th Regiment.
The military structure as we know it today evolved during the war. Each infantry company was composed of approximately 100 men. Each regiment was composed of approximately ten (10) companies. Both Union and Confederate armies were organized in similar fashion.
Four (4) infantry regiments (later in the war five or six) formed a brigade, commanded by a brigadier general. Three (sometimes four) brigades comprised a division, commanded by a brigadier or major general.
Two or more divisions (usually three) constituted an army corps, commanded by a major general in the Union and a major or lieutenant general in the Confederacy. A small army might consist of a single corps; the principle armies consisted of two or more.
In theory the full strength of an infantry regiment was 1,000 men; of a brigade, 4,000; of a division, 12,000; and a corps, 24,000 or more. In practice the average size for each unit was a third to a half of the above numbers in the Union Army. Confederate divisions and corps tended to be larger than their Union counterparts because a Southern division often contained four brigades and a corps four divisions.
Cavalry regiments often had twelve rather than ten companies (called "troops" in the cavalry). Cavalry regiments, brigades, or divisions were attached to infantry divisions, corps, or armies as the tactical situation required. By 1863 Confederate cavalry divisions sometimes operated as a semi-independent corps, and by 1864 the Union cavalry followed suit carrying such independent operations to an even higher level of development.
Field artillery batteries (a battery consisted of 4 or 6 guns) were attached to brigades, divisions, or corps as the situation required. About 80% of the fighting men in the Union army were infantry, 14% cavalry, and 6% artillery. The Confederates had about the same proportion of artillery, but a higher proportion of cavalry (nearly 20%).
Most men seemed to have joined up out of a sense of duty to their families and their homeland. County militias and volunteers began jockeying to join certain companies. Some Tattnall men wasted no time in joining other county troops already in place; notably Captain Winn's and Captain Hughes' companies of the First Battalion, Georgia Cavalry from Liberty County, and Captain A. 1. Hendry's Company in Bulloch County. Later these three companies G., D., and E. Respectively, of the 5th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, C.S.A. The 5th Georgia Regiment was sent to Mississippi and placed in Gen. Wheeler's Cavalry Corps. They fought in the Tennessee and Atlanta campaigns, the defense of Savannah and the campaign in the Carolinas.
In Bulloch County Captain John Calvin DeLoach (65 years old) commanded Company G of the Georgia State Troops. This company, called "Capers' Volunteers" disbanded in April of 1862. Most of the company joined Company K, 47th Regiment, Georgia Infantry, but a few joined "Miller's Rangers" Company B, 7th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, and served in the Virginia campaign. Many from this area went to Bryan County and joined the "Hardwick Mounted Rifles" commanded by Captain Joseph L. McAllister. This company later became part of the 7th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, also.